Firestorm Books & Coffee

History

In May 2010, the Slow Money Alliance ranked Firestorm as the second-best Slow Money Business in the country. Later, in December 2011, Zagat included it on a national list of the ten coolest independent coffee shops. The Firestorm Collective announced in January 2014 that it would leave its downtown location and search for a new spot in West Asheville. After closing from March 2014 until July 2015, the collective reopened on Haywood Road as Firestorm Books & Coffee, a name that signaled a greater emphasis on selling books.

The city of Asheville cited the shop in August 2018 for running a weekly needle exchange that provided clean syringes and naloxone, claiming a zoning violation. Those citations were eventually dropped as long as a medical professional remained present during the events. In 2022, Firestorm bought an old car repair shop near its second location, turned it into a new storefront, and gave the land to the Asheville-Buncombe Community Land Trust. The store announced in December 2023 that it had obtained more than 22,000 books that had been pulled from Duval County Public Schools in Florida, planning to ship them back to children in that state at no cost.

How the books were acquired remains unknown. Over the years, Firestorm has hosted speakers such as economist Thomas Greco, activist Wayne Besen, the Beehive Collective, scholar Kirkpatrick Sale, educator Bill Ayers, and organizer Jenny Brown.